LIDAB: a user-friendly display system for linked multimedia data and its application in education

The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web where information is represented in a way that computer programs such as software agents can understand the meaning of the information without human’s intervention. Like the Web, huge number of hyperlinked data exist on the Semantic Web which results in the Web of Linked Data. In addition, one can easily encounter hyperlinked multimedia data such as image files, video clips, etc. on the Semantic Web. In this paper, we propose a browsing system called LIDAB which shows user-friendly views of different types of linked multimedia data sources on the Semantic Web. The motivation behind our research is to provide lay users without technical backgrounds on the Semantic Web with intuitive views on the linked multimedia data. While there exist well-known linked data browsing systems such as Tabulator, Disco, etc., using these systems are not always easy for novice users since they do not show intuitive views on browser screens. On the other hand, our system generates a view that looks almost like a normal HTML view that one can see on a Web browser. Our system has two types of audience: non-expert users who browse the information on the Semantic Web and Web designers who can create HTML documents. It is easy to use the proposed system in various educational scenarios where students can surf the Semantic Web to study learning materials.